UCI Defends Contentious Dope Test Strategy after Pogačar and Vingegaard Targeted at Tour de France

The UCI came out in defense of the late-night dope tests that rocked the recent Tour de France.

Speaking to The Guardian, UCI president David Lappartient said the “out of hours” tests performed on Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogačar – the race’s biggest stars – served as a warning shot.

“We always have suspicion in cycling, due to our past,” Lappartient said Sunday. “I know what has been done to fight against doping. Night testing is a tool in this fight, but it is not a tool to use every day. You must use it very exceptionally.

“It’s not suspicion about any rider, but it’s a global message to the bunch.”

Dope testing, and its timing, was the hottest topic of the final week of the men’s Tour de France.

Vingegaard and Pogačar were among a very select few who were tested in the dead of night – well outside of authorized hours – by International Testing Agency [ITA] officials ahead of a massive climbing stage in the Jura.

When Vingegaard crashed out the very next day on stage 15, the cycling world wondered whether a sleepless night played a role.

Lappartient warns of microdosing threat

Lappartient told The Guardian the exceptional overnight tests are an unfortunate but essential tool. They’re an anti-doping measure that he supports.

Surprise out-of-hours tests help officials catch riders “micro-dosing” illegal substances in an attempt to work around the thresholds of the biological passport system.

Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of EF Education-EasyPost, voiced his support for overnight controls for the very same reason when he chimed in on the dope debate during the Tour.

Vaughters and Tour de France boss Christian Prudhomme both said cycling should be thankful for such extreme scrutiny.

“We will not support something they [the ITA] do every night on the riders. The normal hours [of testing] are not at night,” Lappartient told The Guardian. “However, we support the ITA if they have to do some specific test.

“We know that, with micro-dosing EPO, that’s something you can’t detect six or seven hours after. So, for the riders to know that the ITA may come, that’s always a fear,” Lappartient said.

Vingegaard and Pogačar subject to tests after legal sign-off

WADA forbids out-of-competition controls between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless specific legal conditions are met.

According to L’équipe, officials obtained specific authorization from a French judge to conduct the early-hour tests at the Tour de France on the grounds of “serious and consistent suspicions.”

Lappartient told The Guardian this week he supported night-time testing in such “exceptional cases”.

The “suspicion” required to just such a high-level sign-off may lead some to ponder the outcome of the tests performed on Pogačar and Vingegaard – the two dominators of grand tour racing.

The ITA warned Velo last week that any positive results might take weeks to show through.

On the flipside, no specific communications will be made of a negative result.

Lappartient was hopefully optimistic that no news, some two weeks removed from the tests, is good news.

“The ITA never make a press release about negative results, only about positive results,” Lappartient said. “We didn’t see any press release in the Tour de France, so it seems there was nothing in the Tour.”